Fury over free bus out of Heywood

Traders have criticised the council over a new bus service that takes shoppers out of Heywood. Home Office funding of £10,000 has been spent on a weekend shuttle between the town centre and Pilsworth Retail Park in Bury.

Traders have criticised the council over a new bus service that takes shoppers out of Heywood.

Home Office funding of £10,000 has been spent on a weekend shuttle between the town centre and Pilsworth Retail Park in Bury.

The scheme was launched after residents were given the opportunity to decide how the extra money should be spent on making people feel safer.

The council has pointed out that the bus service was only launched because of demand for safe transportation to the cinema, leisure facilities and restaurants at Pilsworth.

But Heywood Magic Market workers have argued it also encourages people to do their shopping at the site, which features a large Asda store.

John Kennedy, vice-chairman of the market board, said: "This is a time when the council should be doing all it can to encourage confidence in local shops.

"One minute it is publicising this Shop Local campaign, saying it is investing in bringing shoppers to Heywood, and the next it is launching a special bus service to take them away.

"A lot of us aren’t very happy about it and we want something done about it."

Some of the motivation behind the scheme came from residents’ worries about children and young people putting their lives at risk by walking along roads with no pavements to reach the site from Heywood.

Lindsay Dunn, neighbourhood crime and justice coordinator, said: "The Home Office were clear that they wanted local people to decide how the money was spent.

"The participatory budget fund was set up to give local people more influence over which services the council provides for the benefit of local people. The projects were also supposed to improve community safety issues that were causing them to feel unsafe."

A Rochdale Borough Council spokesman said of the traders’ concerns: "The reason we funded this project was simply because of residents’ demand. People were asked how they wanted us to spend it and we responded to what they wanted.